Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

14th Annual Local Produce Festival in Park Slope

All day Saturday and Sunday May 31 and June 1, Spoke the Hub sponsors the Local Produce Festival. Elise Long, one of the Park Slope 100 and founder of Spoke the Hub is the force behind this annual festival. Check it out.

Saturday, May 31

EVENTS ALONG UNION STREET BETWEEN 5TH AND 6TH AVENUES, PARK SLOPE

Workshops Under the BigTop Tent
10:00am Creative Dance & Yoga For the Whole Family with Heidi Kinney
11:00am Brazilian Dance with Ellen Baxt
1:30-2:00pm Monte Allen/Brooklyn Kenshikai Karate Demonstration
2:00-2:30pm Modern Dance Warm-Up with Mark Lamb
4:00pm Freestyle Repertory Theater / Improv Workshop for the Whole Family
4:30pm African Drumming for the Whole Family / BaTuBa Collective Percussion
5:00pm African Dance for the Whole Family / Charles Moore Dance Theater
5:30pm Basic Salsa Workshop / Salsa Salsa Dance Studio

Street Fun & Games on the Midway
10:00am-Noon Frisbees on the Midway
10:30-11:15am Sing, Dance & Make Believe for ages 3-4 with Sarah Pope
Noon-1:00 Fun & Street Games for the Whole Family with Lori Jorgensen
1:00-1:30pm Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps Marching Band
1:30-2:00pm MaracatuNY / Brazilian Percussion
4:00-6:00pm Board Games on the Midway

Music at the Bus Stop
12noon Connection Works Ensemble / New Music
12:45pm Connection Works Ensemble Jam Session, open to all, including student musicians
1:30pm Douglass Street Music Collective
2:30pm Mani Chamber Music Group
3:30pm Music & Dance Improvisation with Connection Works Ensemble, Douglass Street Music Collective, Propel-her Dance, and YOU!
4pm Douglass Street Music Collective

Performances Under the BigTop Tent

2:30pm Young Artists Perform!
PS 321 Dance Students
Spoke the Hub Dance Students
Spoke the Hub Drama Students
Gowanus Wildcats Drill Team
Charles Moore Dance Theater Youth Ensemble
Berkeley Carroll School Dancers
David & Sarah Gratz / Young Musicians
Brooklyn Jazz Lab
Salsa Salsa Dance Studio Youth Group

6:00pm Professional Artists Performance
Salsa Salsa Dance Studio Duo
Charles Moore Dance Theater
Parents Who Dance / Modern Dance
RedWall Dance Theatre
David Bindman / Saxophone Solo
Sarah Council Dance Projects / Modern Dance
Lily Skove / Modern Dance
Freestyle Repertory Theater / Improv

Dance Under the Stars!
7:00pm Basic Swing Dance Lesson with Laurie Shayler
7:30pm Dance Party Under the Stars for the Whole Family
with Art Lillard and His Heavenly Big Band

Sunday, June 1

EVENTS IN THE COMMUNITY GARDENS

St. Marks/Warren Street (between 4th and 5th Avenues)
11:00-11:50am Tai Chi & Chinese Music Workshop with Kwok Kay & Alice Choey
12:00-12:30pm Mark Lamb Dance Performance

Garden of Union (at 4th Avenue)
12:30pm Accordion Angels / New Music
1:00pm BaTuBa Collective Percussion / African Drumming
1:30-2:20pm Yoga & Movement Meditation Workshop with Mina Hamilton

President Street (at 5th Avenue)
2:00pm Mad Jazz Hatters/ New Music
2:30pm Slackjaw / Nouveau Bluegrass

Gorgeous Strawberries At The Farmer's Market

Hop on over to Grand Army Plaze. The strawberries—flowers, asparagus, fish, bread, tomatoes, and the rest—are sublime.

Middle School Letters: In Your Mailbox Saturday or Monday

Parents are hoping that the NYC Department of Education really did mail out the middle school letters on Friday May 30, as they told school officials they would.

After months of waiting the middle school letters could be in your mailbox as early as today. Woo Hoo. Imagine knowing where your fifth grader will be going to school next year. Around here we've tried to put 6th grade out of our minds.

Sixth grade? What's that?

The fifth graders at PS 321 are in senior mode. Next week they've got field day and a big trip to a historical site upstate. They'll even be getting their fifth grade t-shirt with every kid's signature on it. Soon they'll be getting their yearbook.

It's the end of elementary school and they know it. But they still don't know what they're doing next year.

I heard that a friend's son received an acceptance letter from NEST (New Explorations in Science and Technology) a middle school on the Lower East Side.

I know that some schools do their own admissions and manage to avoid the big computer at the DOE. NEST must be one of them. Did you ever think that getting into middle school would be like getting into college?

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

A Comedy About The Distance We Put Between Us On The Subway

The name of the play is Standing Clear and it bills itself as a comedy about the distance we put between us on the subway. This makes me think of the portraits that Ed Velandria creates on the subway.The people always look they are in their own worlds and disconnected from those around them. 

The show, Standing Clear, is the latest original work from Coffee Cup, a theater company who did another piece called Turning Tables (about restaurants, perhaps?) The show is playing at the Access Theater, 390 Broadway (at White Street). For more information and tickets, go to smarttix.com
                                                                   

Here's the blurb: Their latest physical comedy, Standing Clear, is an ensemble piece that digs deep into the personalities we commute with each day. Have you ever imagined what a stranger's life was like? Pressed right up against each other, but miles away, what happens when we let the strangers we see every day affect us? An ode to the NYC subway, Standing Clear shines a spotlight on the fleeting moments that we rarely recognize as being key to the essential beauty of New York.

Another Evening, Another Meeting: Rezoning of the Gowanus

At last night's CB6 Land Use meeting, there was a presentation by the NYC Department of City Planning on the rezoning of the Gowanus, Here's an excerpt from Pardon Me for Asking. And there's more at Curbed, in a post titled, 25 Blocks Worth of Change in the Gowanus. PMFA has pix, too.

Another evening, another meeting....this time, it was the monthly gathering of the Community Board 6's Land Use Committee. On the agenda was New York City Planning's presentation of the rezoning framework for the Gowanus Canal.

Under discussion is a 60 block area between Park Slope and Carroll Gardens which is now zoned industrial. City Planning has broken the whole into five sub-areas and into different use-groups, including residential and retail use.

I don't know about you dear reader, but every time I go to a meeting dealing with the future of the Gowanus Canal, the debate comes back to the most important factor: the pollution from decades of environmental abuse. Without fail, the subject was brought up by members of the audience as well as by at least one Land-Use Committee member.

Movies Al Fresco in Park Slope: Thursdays in July

Brooklyn Film Works is coming back for its third summer. Organizers will be showing films with a political theme in honor of the election year.

I don't know if the schedule has been finalized but here's what I do know. They're showing 1776, The Manchurean Candidate (the original directed by John Frankenheimer) and The Candidate with Robert Redford.

As always, there will be a terrific short before the feature.

Brooklyn Film Works shows movies on a gigantic screen set up in JJ Byrne Park on Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street. The movies will be on Thursday nights in July at dusk. Bring something comfortable to sit on (a blanket, pillow, or lawn chair). Bring a picnic.

More information will be forthcoming on the Old Stone House website and on OTBKB (of course).

Boomberg, Gotbaum and de Blasio Weigh in on Crane Collapse

Politicians are weighing in on today's crane collapse. The death toll so far is 4. Those who died were construction workers working on the crane. There are numerous serious injuries of workers and pedestrians.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg: "What has happened is unacceptable and intolerable. Having said that, we do not know at the moment what happened or why."

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum told the New York Times:  "It’s clear we need to be far more strict and crack down on any unsafe construction sites, and its clear we need more inspectors, still. When a violation is issued, disciplinary action must follow. Just two days ago the city decided that inspectors will no longer be present every time a construction crane is being erected or made taller, an emergency provision put in place following the last major accident. This move by the D.O.B., tightening restrictions following a catastrophe, and then relaxing them as soon as the smoke clears, was likely premature."

Councilmember Bill de Blasio sent out a press release: "This is inexcusable. Every time the Department of Buildings tells us they have taken steps to improve safety, another horrific accident occurs. This has to stop. The Department of Buildings is clearly not up to the job. We need a moratorium. We need a reinspection at every site in New York City." He called for a ban on usage of cranes until every one is reinspected.

Pre-K Admissions Problems With Sibling Verification

Reading Park Slope Parents, I see that many local sibs did not get into pre-K programs at public schools that their older siblings attend;  parents are, understandably, upset. Apparently the DOE's computers compared data for the older sibling on the application with pre-submitted data about the older sibling in their records. f these addesses didn't match the child applying for pre-K was treated as a non-sibling. Looks like the computer screwed up. Big time. What if the family has moved since the original pre-K application? Here's an excerpt from the Inside Schools blog:  

Currently, OSEPO staff are finishing up looking at every single one of the applications of families who indicated they had a sibling already enrolled, Jacob said. He told me he anticipates that the number of families affected will be a "small minority" of the 9,000 families who indicated that they had a sibling in their school of choice, though the number will be "more than 4 or 5." After the scope of the problem is clear, the DOE will decide how to handle the cases, he said, and families will be notified then if there was a mistake in the way their application was treated. "There are some cases where the problem was on our end. ... When we hear about problems, we solve them," he told me.

Jacob said there may also be families who believe they were erroneously denied a seat who actually completed the application incorrectly, perhaps by listing the school in which the sibling is already enrolled as something other than their first choice. (Sibling priority only works for your first-choice school.)

Jacob advised me that the very best thing parents who believe the address-matching issue may be the root of their rejection should hold tight while the DOE decides how to solve the problem. I know that will be hard to do, but I have faith that the DOE is committed to addressing the issues, even though it might not know yet exactly how to. If you just can't wait, Jacob said the best number to call at OSEPO is 212-374-4948. That's also the number you should call if you have other issues or if you still haven't received a letter -- though we have heard from one father who just received a letter this morning.

2 Dead in Crane Collapse on East 91st Street

As reported on WNYC, Gothamist, and elsewhere, this morning a construction crane collapsed on East 91st Street and First Avenue killing at least four two construction workers (update at 1:35 p.m.). Many more were injured. The FDNY is still searching through the wreckage.

Photo from Gothamist

David Byrne Plays the Building

David Byrne has created a sound installation, sponsored by Creative Time, called Playing The Building, in which the infrastructure, the physical plant of the building, is converted into a giant musical instrument.

Creative Time presents Playing the Building, a 9,000-square-foot, interactive, site-specific installation by renowned artist David Byrne. The artist transforms the interior of the landmark Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan into a massive sound sculpture that all visitors are invited to sit and “play.” The project consists of a retrofitted antique organ, placed in the center of the building's cavernous second-floor gallery, that controls a series of devices attached to its structural features—metal beams, plumbing, electrical conduits, and heating and water pipes. These machines vibrate, strike, and blow across the building’s elements, triggering unique harmonics and producing finely tuned sounds.

Says David Byrne:

“The idea is that the public can sit down and play this thing, and that when they do, it should be pretty obvious what’s going on. They’ll see machines mounted up on the girders and the pipes and the columns, and they’ll notice that as soon as they hit a key, a sound comes from the building. There’s all this stuff coming out of the back of the organ like a big octopus; some are little tubes blowing compressed air into the plumbing pipes. Those sound like alto flutes, kind of pretty. Some are wires that go to these strikers; those will be like little gongs, hitting the radiators and big metal columns with high, percussive notes. Other wires go to motors that are strapped like crazy to girders and support structures within the building. They’re hung off balance, so they shake and vibrate, which makes a sound like when a car or truck goes over an iron trestle bridge. Depending on the length of the metal beam, they make different notes.”

10 South Street, New York, NY (Map)
31 May – 10 August 2008
Open Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Noon – 6PM (Free)
Opening Reception: 31 May, 6–8 PM

Jamie Livingston Site Has Been Improved

Hugh Crawford is continuing to improve the Jamie Livingston site, which is much more robust and seems able to handle the large volume of traffic it is getting.

Big News: Many of the X pictures have been replaced with real photos, as have the pictures with Hugh's finger and a date on a Post-it. Hugh thinks there are only a few missing photos now.

MyFox has an extensive article about Jamie and the site:

'Polaroid a Day' Chronicles a Life 

Jamie Livingston's Photo Project Finds an Audience Online 

http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?contentId=6654456

So does Time.com. Betsy found this post by Richard Lacayo on Time.com's art and architecture blog.

 

Something about Livingston's project reminded me that towards the end of his life the photographer Garry Winogrand shot rolls and rolls of film almost aimlessly, just pointing the camera out the window of his car. I think Winogrand was looking for whatever you find when you let go as best you can of the structures of art. (That was an idea that was also basic to what Robert Rauschenberg was doing sometimes.) And I 've always been fascinated by an old movie by the Swiss director Alain Tanner, In the White City. Bruno Ganz plays an engineer on an oil tanker who jumps ship in Lisbon and stays there, periodically sending home to his girlfriend a home movie of his aimless days. By the time he makes the last film his life is dissolving into pure weightless existence, and the movie is just footage of streets going by underfoot.

After Livingston's death, his pictures were organized by two friends into a show they mounted last year at Bard College, which is where he had begun the series when he was a student there. This kind of pure steady documentation can be very powerful. The Livingston project, because of the way it ends, is heartbreaking, but also wonderful in its attention to every little bit of life. The combination of easy digital photography and the Internet will create more of these sustained accounts of everydayness. (It already has. In the last few years a couple of guys made projects of taking a picture of every meal they ate for a year.) Flickr is a public library of photo diaries. But I'm betting that this one will always be one of the form's monuments, built one little piece at a time.

Now Rented: 2 of 4 Vacant Storefronts Between 2nd and 3rd On Seventh

Seventh Avenue between Second and Third Streets is 2 for 4.

That's right, two of the four vacant storefronts on that stretch of Seventh Avenue are now rented. The Second Street Cafe and Park Slope Books storefronts are still available. But the storefront, which housed Seventh Avenue Books, is becoming a store for "children's exclusives."

I don't know if that's toys or clothing.

It's going into the building owned by Mark Ravitz Art and Design. It's the building with the cyclops/octopus/sun drips. There were once dripping cows on that building.

Barrio, the groovy, new nouveau Mexican restaurant with the super-duper Margaritas, is in the spot vacated by Tempo Presto and Mojo/Carvel before that.

So, do I hear any interest in the Second Street Cafe?

The owners, I believe, are trying to sell the recently renovated restaurant. Interestingly, one of the owners used to work at Restaurant Florent, the legendary 24-hour diner-style restaurant on Manhattan's Gansevoort Street. That restaurant, which was a harbinger of the uber-gentrification of the meat-packing neighborhood on the far Westside, is going out of business on June 29th.

Does anyone remember Evelyn's Goat Cheese Salad? It was a specialty at Florent and also on the menu at Second Street Cafe.

Hebrew Language Charter School?

I found this on the Inside Schools blog. I was looking for info about the middle school admission's letters, which I didn't find. But i did find this:

Apparently there is interest in establishing a Hebrew language charter school. It will be interesting to see what kind of brouhaha this causes. The following is by the Inside School's blogger, Philissa.

I had sort of thought that the folks who last autumn were talking about bringing a Hebrew-language charter school to New York City would have been dissuaded by the controversy surrounding the Khalil Gibran International Academy, but apparently they were not. Next week, representatives of the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life plans to submit an application to the DOE and the state Board of Regents to open a charter school as early as 2009, according to a report in the Jewish Daily Forward.

The proposal will be modeled after Ben Gamla Charter in Florida, which ran into some trouble early in this school year because its Hebrew language curriculum contained religious references. Considering that doing damage control for Khalil Gibran proved costly and embarrassing for the DOE and that the controversy continues to this day, it should be interesting to see what kind of reception the Hebrew school's advocates receive.

Department of Education Mailing Middle School Letters Today!

That's what I was told by a reliable source at PS 321. She received an email on Thursday morning saying that the letters would be mailed to parents on Friday May 30, 2008.

Some would say, it's about time.

She told me that the middle schools have the lists of the kids they are accepting. They just haven't let the parents, the students, or the guidance counselors at the elementary schools know yet.

Here's hoping they get those letters out today. If they do, look for it in the mail Saturday or Monday.

Food Drive at Old First Church Through June 15

Old First Church on Seventh Avenue at Carroll Street is running a food drive, in the hopes of donating 200 or more bags of non-perishable groceries to help replenish Brooklyn's empty food banks.

Here's the grocery list: Rice, pasta, dried beans, canned veggies, fruit, applesauce and tuna, shelf-stable milk and infant forumal, canned and packaged soup, whole-grained cereals, 100% fruit juice (no glass please).

Please fill a grocery bag and bring to the church office by June 15th. Office hours are Mon-Thurs, 9am-5pm OR Snday 9am-2pm.

Help Old First Church meet its goal of 200 bags of groceries to replenish Brooklyn's empty food banks.

Red Hook Braces for Onslaught of Ikea Customers

The Brooklyn Paper reports that the Red Hook Ikea has added hundreds of parking spaces.

Ikea has added hundreds of parking spaces to its Red Hook store in advance of the hotly anticipated opening on Wednesday, June 18, which is expected to draw a cavalcade of shoppers that will continue for months.

The Scandinavian home-furnishings giant’s first New York City store will use the neighboring site of the former Revere Sugar refinery to handle any parking overflow from its own 1,400-car lot at least until Labor Day.

Company officials didn’t disclose how many vehicles can be packed onto the dirt lot, but it is large enough to hold several hundred.

By enlarging its car capacity, Ikea has revived concern in Red Hook that the heretofore remote corner of Brooklyn will be overrun by drivers, because mass transit is not an appealing option if you’re hauling home a futon (or boxes and boxes of Swedish meatballs).

Prospect Park Has Multi-Million Dollar Friend

Brooklyn Paper reports that a stretch of Prospect Park will be restored thanks to an enormous donation.

A famed philanthropist donated $10 million last week to restore a 26-acre stretch of Prospect Park to its original glory, but even with the generous contribution, funding for the expansive project is only halfway secured.

Shelby White, widow of the Wall Street investor Leon Levy and head of the Leon Levy Foundation, donated the money to the planned Lakeside Center — a $75-million project that would demolish the run-down, but popular, Wollman skating rink and replace it with a multipurpose recreation and education venue with new rinks, plus restore the area back to Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s original 19th-century design.

White — a Brooklyn native — decided to donate to Prospect Park because she spent so much time there as a child, “horseback riding [and] rowing with my junior high school boyfriend from Walt Whitman JHS.”

“And, sorry, Mike,” she joked with Mayor Bloomberg during a May 22 press conference to announce the donation, “I smoked my first cigarette in this park.”

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

New Store Off Fifth: Urban Alchemist

Yesterday I happened upon a new store on Fifth Street just East of Fifth Avenue (343 Fifth Street) called Urban Alchemist and it's owned by five designers.  In addition to jewelry, they will also be selling vintage furniture, home goods, lamps, bags, and T-shirts.

There's a a lot of great stuff in the shop already. I took a bunch of pictures, which I will post later. Here's the word from co-owner Rebecca Shepherd, who is one of the jewelry designers, about this lovely new shop:

I would like to announce that I have opened a store in my beloved Park Slope Brooklyn! We are called Urban Alchemist and are located at 343 5th street between 5th and 6th av. Our co-op is made up of 5 Brooklyn Designers including my line, Esewara (my partner), Via Nativa, Re-surface lighting and Loyalty&Blood. We welcome you to our design studio! Come by for a glass of wine, coffee or tea. If your lucky, you'll come by on a day I bring homemade chocolate chip cookies!

The Oh So Prolific One: Leon Freilich, Verse Responder

VEEP X TWO

It sounds like wack,
It sounds insane--
Team up with Barack
As well as McCain?

In a year of firsts--
A woman, a black--
Old ways are all
Under attack.

But on a bi--
Partisan spree
Party leaders demand
This V.P.

What Obama needs
Is an older man,
An administrator
Who knows how to plan,

While Johnny Mac
Requires in truth
An independent
With much more youth.

So look for a double
Invitation
To wend its way,
A solicitation

To come and be
The No. 2
For the Democrats
And GOP crew--

A bi-polar
Seemingly daft
Communication
Announcing a draft

To run for Vice President.
Though it hasn't been cricket
To have the same candidate
On each's ticket,

The Constitution
Expounds not a word
On this novel  subject,
Not "nay," not "absurd,"

So what's inevitable
Is a Michael Bloom-
Berg one-on-two
V.P. boom.

And best of all
He'll have lots to give,
With not a chance
He'll go negative.

Sundance at BAM

Sundance at BAM. Lots to see, lots to do. For the third straight year, Sundance is moving into BAM for eleven days to present 22 features and 36 short films from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, music concerts, Q&As with the artists, art installations, and special events.

Here's the trailer:

Buy Tickets Now: Mississippi Delta Heritage at 651 Arts in Ft. Greene

651 ARTS is producing a very ambitious program that runs through June 7th and includes a performance by my fave, Cassandra Wilson.  For schedule, tickets, and loads of information, pictures, and audio clips go here.

651 Arts is dedicating its entire annual season to the culture, artists and influence of the Mississippi Delta in The Mississippi Delta Heritage Project. While the history and impact of the Delta Blues tradition is undisputed, few are aware of the contemporary artistry that continues to thrive in the region. The Mississippi Delta Heritage Project provides a glimpse of this flourishing artistic culture to New York audiences. CASSANDRA WILSON, COREY HARRIS, T-MODEL FORD, JIMMY “DUCK” HOLMES, and LOBI TRAORÉ are among the many outstanding artists, either from or influenced by the Delta, who will be performing as part of this series. Have a look inside, we hope you join us in the celebration!

de Blasio Says: Ban Hotels in Gowanus Rezoning

I just got this press release from de Blasio's very busy publisicst, Jean Weinberg. There's a press conference today at 5 p.m (see below).

Carroll Gardens—Councilmember Bill de Blasio will join community leaders at a press conference today calling on the Department of City Planning to ban the development of hotels in the rezoning of the Gowanus. De Blasio will make the announcement immediately prior to the City Planning Commission's presentation of their latest version of the Gowanus Canal rezoning.

Councilmember de Blasio is calling on City Planning to ban hotels for several reasons: in predominately manufacturing areas, hotels will likely push out existing manufacturing uses, in areas that are predominately residential, hotel uses are disruptive because hotels are 24/7, often with taxis or cars idling outside, and while we are in the midst of a hotel boom, at some point that will taper off and some of these hotels will not make it or even worse, will turn into "hot sheet" motels in order to stay afloat.

Who: Councilmember de Blasio, community leaders, local elected officials and others.
When: 5pm—Thursday, May 29, 2008
Where: 372 Hoyt Street (Outside of P.S. 32 in Brooklyn)—between 2nd& 3rd Street.
** Take the F Train and get off at Carroll Street- exit near intersection of 2nd St and Smith Street. Head East on 2nd St towards Hoyt St.

The Selling of Brooklyn Bridge Park

Cathryn Swan over at Washington Square Park sent word of this event, presented by the Sierra Club, which is free and open to the public. Cathryn's blog is "a chronicle of a big park and a city government overcome by its own power."

Discussion: The Selling of Brooklyn Bridge Park

Friday, May 30th; 6:30 p.m.

Judson Memorial Church (Washington Sq. Park South, entrance on Thompson
St.)

Background information:

Urban parks are becoming our newest endangered species. It has been a
20-year effort by the surrounding community to secure the Brooklyn
Bridge Park in an 85-acre strip along 1.5 miles of Brooklyn’s East
River waterfront. It has become an example of the implementation of
“parks that pay for themselves,” leading to increased privatization and
the further demise of public parks.

Requiring parks to pay their own way is an extension of the relentless
cutbacks in public funding for NYC parks in recent decades, from 1.5%
of the municipal budget in former years to only 0.4% currently.

Unlike traditional New York City parks, which are administered by the
NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation, the Brooklyn Bridge Park is being
created by a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corp., a state
agency whose primary mission is promotion of economic activity.

Apart from $150 million committed by the city and state for
construction, the park will have to generate enough income to pay for
ongoing operation and upkeep. The main source, under the approved plan,
will be payments from owners of apartments in high-rise housing with
1,200 luxury units that private developers will be allowed to build
within the park – a massive intrusion into its narrow swath of green
space.

Speakers:

Judi Francis, President, Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund

Roy Sloane, civic activist

Free and open to the public. Wine, cheese and snacks will be served.

Red Hook Open Studio Tour: June 7 & 8

I just got word from artists Kristin and Sean Eno that the Red Hook Open Studio Tour is right around the corner.

The Monarch Open Studio Tour is imminent. It's just a week and a half away! Come see the land that time almost forgot, but then suddenly remembered. It's part of a larger Red Hook open studios weekend, but our building is totally huge, so it has more art!

If you like art, daytime drinking, or invading people's space to check out their belongings, then you'll love it. Babies and art critics are welcome. Here's what discerning folks are saying:

I went last year, and I had a good ol' time! - John Shanchuk

I went two years ago and I was there for like TWELVE HOURS! - Cara McKenney

We look forward to seeing you. Information and directions below.

Monarch Luggage Building Open Studios
featuring 14 artists living and sometimes working therein, including
Kristin and Sean Eno, Studio 2U
Painting, Jewelry, Photography, Video; possibly with added tricks or gimmicks

14 Verona Street
June 7th and 8th
Noon - 6pm

Gov Paterson Recognizes Same-Sex Marriages From Elsewhere

This from the New York Times. Read more here.

ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada.

In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”

The revisions are most likely to involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses.

Slope Sports Says: Run, Run, Run

Slope Sports sponsors two weekly runs for runners at all levels.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT FUN RUN

Meet us at the Grand Army Plaza entrance of Prospect Park at 7:15pm for one loop (3.35 miles) of the Park tonight. Run at your own pace – all paces welcome!

SATURDAY MORNING RUNNING GROUP

Come join Slope Sports and Prospect Park Track Club our free and fun group run at the Grand Army Plaza entrance of Prospect Park at 8:00am.

One group will run 6-8+ miles in and around Brooklyn . Another group will head into the Park to run 1 mile to 1 loop (3.35 miles).

All paces and distances welcome.

Only the Blog Links

Hoyt Street residents say no to Oyster Bar (Pardon Me for Asking)

Hero or homo? (Blognigger)

Battle Hill on Memorial Day (Brooklynometry)

Rise in shootings and murders (Daily News)

Murder Book 2008 mentioned in Times' feature about crime writers (Murder Book 2008)

Murder She Once Wrote (NY Times)

Coney Island Daze (Midnight Cowgirls)

From my window this afternoon (Self-Absorbed Boomer)

Looking through the Telectroscope (McBrooklyn)

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

Park Slope Food Coop Votes To Ban Plastic Bags

The Brookyn Paper calls it an environmental triumph. Unlike OTBKB, BP's editor Gersh Kuntzman stayed until the end of the meeting. So he got the scoop.

In one of the most lopsided votes since the re-election of Chairman Mao in 1954, members of Brooklyn’s famously progressive supermarket, the Park Slope Food Co-op, voted nearly unanimously on Tuesday night to stop making plastic shopping bags available at the checkout counter.

In doing so, the 14,000-member grocery store is now in good company with bag-banning locales like Rwanda, Uganda, Bangladesh, China, San Francisco and the Republic of Whole Foods.

It was the second environmental triumph for the Co-op in as many months; in April, the Union Street supermarket voted to stop selling bottled water.

In both cases, the well-being of the planet was cited as the motivation — like water bottles, plastic bags are made from petroleum — and the notion of customer convenience was dismissed.

(Full disclosure: I’m not only The Brooklyn Paper’s Park Slope Food Co-op beat reporter; I’m also a member.)

“I will be so happy to see the plastic bags gone, gone, gone!” said Jane Bayer, a 34-year member of the Co-op, using her allotted three minutes at the Tuesday night meeting to thunder against America’s “addiction” to the thin-plastic bags.

“We don’t need them. Some people say they reuse them, but how many times? Once, twice? That’s no big savings. It will be hard to give up plastic bags, but we can do it. We don’t need them! We can do it! It should be done. It must be done.”

It was a night of passion, persuasion and props.

Hospital: A Book About Brooklyn's Maimonides

I heard Julie Salamon, the author of this book, on Brian Lehrer this morning and it sounds like a very interesting book. She is also the author of "The Devil's Candy" about the making of the film, Bonfire of the Vanities. Her new book is called, Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God andDiversity on Steroids. Here's the blurb from Amazon.

Most people agree that there are complicated issues at play in the delivery of health care today, but those issues may not always be what we think they are. In 2005, Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, unveiled a new state-of-theart, multimillion-dollar cancer center. Determined to understand the whole spectrum of factors that determine what kind of medical care people receive in this country, bestselling author Julie Salamon spent one year tracking the progress of the center and getting to know the characters who make the hospital run. Located in a community where sixty-seven different languages are spoken, Maimonides is a case study for the particular kinds of concerns that arise in institutions that serve an increasingly multicultural American demographic. Granted an astonishing “warts and all” level of access by the hospital higher-ups, Salamon followed the doctors, patients, administrators, nurses, ambulance drivers, cooks, and cleaning staff. She explored not just the action on the ground—what happens between doctors and patients—but also the financial, ethical, technological, sociological, and cultural matters that the hospital community encounters every day.

More On Public Pre-K Letters

My Sidewalk Chalk has some phone numbers you can use if you need help navigating the Department of Education.

Yikes, the Pre-K letters are coming in and from the anecdotal evidence on the yahoo neighborhood groups there are some in-zone families with siblings that are not getting their placements. This may be an indication of errors in the system. Just in case this isn't a limited problem, I have listed a couple of contacts here to try and get answers. It would also be helpful to know when families start receiving acceptance letters...

There are new unconfirmed reports from the yahoo groups. Parents that contacted the Enrollment Office this afternoon said that if you come to the Office on or after June 23 you can receive an informational booklet that will contain a list of schools with remaining available seats and a new application. The new application will have a due date to go through the process all over for the remaining open seats.

Jamie Livingston Polaroid-A-Day on Very Short List

Lots of traffic expected. Here's the story on Very Short List. The Jamie Livingston site seems to be holding up well thanks to Hugh and friends in Minneapolis.

When that itch surfaces to revisit all the big moments in our lives (the proms, weddings, births, European vacations), we naturally reach for the photo album. But where are all those other days — that Tuesday in March, say, when, as far as we can recall, nothing happened? The New York–based cinematographer Jamie Livingston found something worth photographing that day, and the next, as he meticulously (and miraculously) chronicled twenty years of his life in Polaroids before succumbing to cancer in 1997, on his 41st birthday.

Photo of the Day is the beautifully sad website erected by Livingston’s friends to catalogue his prodigious output, with 6,697 captured moments ranging from the mundane to the sublime. There he is napping in one, and newly engaged in another. His lovely gesture of toting around a camera to immortalize the everyday, every day, feels oddly prescient. After all, that cell-phone camera you carry everywhere? Maybe use it or lose it, forever.

Food Coop Membership Votes on Plastic Bags

I was at the general meeting tonight but I had to leave early. A lot of people came out for the meeting, which was at Congregation Beth Elohim; a number of people I spoke with acknowledged the historic nature of the vote. The Food Coop voting no on plastic bags would, like the vote on plastic water bottles, send a message loud and clear that they are serious about environmental issues.

I am not sure what the outcome of the vote at tonight's meeting was but I am guessing that the membership present voted to ban plastic bags: an important move on the part of the Food Coop.

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

Granddaughter of Woody Guthrie at Union Hall

On May 28, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion will perform an acoustic duo set at Union Hall in Brooklyn, NY. The duo tours in support of their debut collaborative album, Exploration, and Irion's recently recorded solo effort, Ex Tempore. Show is at 702 Union Street at 7:30. $12/$14 bucks gets you in.

The granddaughter of legendary folk music icon Woody Guthrie, and daughter of Arlo Guthrie, Sarah Lee Guthrie and her songwriter-guitarist husband Johnny Irion (Dillon Fence, Queen Sarah Saturday) team up for an essential collection of unadorned American roots songs on their critically acclaimed debut duo release, Exploration. A follow-up to their simultaneously released 2001 solo records (Sarah Lee Guthrie, Unity Lodge) on Arlo's Rising Son label, Exploration marks an inspired contemporary folk-rock album drenched with sweet caressing harmonies, high-lonesome folk melodies and an incredibly rocking rhythm section including members of The Jayhawks, Son Volt and Tift Merritt's band. The release is produced by Gary Louris (The Jayhawks) and Ed Ackerson, and mixed by Tom Rothrock (Beck, Elliot Smith), featuring 11 original compositions and a previously unrecorded Pete Seeger composition, "Dr. King."

Jamie Livingston Polaroid-A-Day Site is Back Up! Again

The Huffington Post traffic caused the Jamie Livingston Polaroid-of-the-Day site to crash over the weekend.

But as of today (Tuesday May 27th 2008), it back up. After much, much, much, much work, Hugh fixed the site with many thanks to the kindness of strangers.

"A really nice guy in Minneapolis has put the site up on a server there and thinks that it can withstand the onslaught. It's the 2nd most popular site on Digg this week. Jamie's site is now on its very own machine at a big Internet company. They're pretty sure that it can take whatever sort of beating it's going to get. We're very confident and hoping for the best," says Hugh.

Pre-K Rejection Letters Causing Brouhaha

I got the word from Joyce at My Sidewalk Chalk that the public school Pre-K rejection letters started arriving on Saturday.

Pre-K is not mandated by the state and public pre-school programs tend to be small. Hence parents must apply for coveted spots. Apparently there were a lot of unexpected rejections this year and parents are up in arms. At some schools, siblings are automatically accepted. Not this year. Here's what Joyce had to say:

The Pre-K rejection letters started arriving on Saturday and according to the anecdotal evidence on the yahoo groups, there are some funky  rejections. Families of sibs were supposed to be given priority.

In- zone sibs would seem to have been guaranteed spots especially in schools with several pre-K's like PS 282, but reports say that they  have gotten rejections. A parent has written me that the refused are starting to organize to get accountability. I have a couple numbers to call on my blog, including the Public Advocate.

Joyce Szuflita
www.mysidewalkchalk.blogspot.com

Brooklyn Heights Demolition Shocker

Brooklyn Heights Blog has the story and pix about the "demolition by dereliction" of a building on Monroe and Clark Street in Brooklyn Heights. Here's an excerpt from this shocking story:

And it’s pretty certain that Penson has deep enough pockets to have done the right thing and preserved this structure. Clearly, Penson’s desire to rid 100 Clark of its renters is most likely at the heart of this unforgivable act of destruction in one of New York City’s best preserved neighborhoods

Bloomsday at Ceol Pub in Cobble Hill

Fantastic. Michele Madigan Somerville is organizing a reading of James Joyce's Ulysses at Ceol Pub on Smith Street.

The reading is on Bloomsday, of course: June 16th from 8-10 p.m. The novel's protagonist is named Bloom and June 16th is the day the novel takes place on.

For years Symphony Space has done a full reading of Ulysses on Bloomday. But nothing in Brooklyn. Until now. Somerville is filling the void. Thanks for the correction Leon.

Yay for Michelle, who also does a monthly reading series at this pub—next up June 4th with Sharon Mesmer at 6:30. She sent out this note this morning and is calling out for readers. If you are interested, email her at mmsomerville(at)mindspring(dot)com. 

If you are getting this note, it’s because you are one of my favorite writers, thinkers, Ulysses fans and I want to invite you to join a program of reading from the book aloud on Bloomsday, June 16^th in the back room at Ceol Pub in Cobble Hill Brooklyn from about 8 until 10:30 or so.

Though my great fantasy is to one day do a "real time" reading (an experiment my beloved Stein the Medievalist attempted in 1978 as part of the original NYC collective effort to read Ulysses aloud on Bloomsday in real time!) I thought I‘d start small, with about ten readers reading short sections. 

If you are interested in reading something -- pick a section and about 5-10 minutes and get back to me by email.

If you love the idea, but feel that you don't "know" the book well enough, write back and we'll discuss and figure something out -- especially if you are likely to be an exciting reader. I’ll set you up.

If you are interested but unable to commit, just plan to come. If time permits, we might be able to squeeze in impromptu readings.

This is an informal reading.  It is not a "performance."   

I’ll do literary air traffic control -- I'll devise a slight structure -- so as to attempt to get as many books of the epic as is possible represented. If there’s a section you are dying to claim, get back to me quickly.

I plan to read the final page or two of Penelope.

We need someone good (and prompt) to render the beginning Introibo altare Dei. .

So write back and say I said "Yes I will."

Feel free to pass this on to any Joyce mavens known to you. Some of you are, I know, unavailable, but you may have pals who'd love to do this.

Slainte,

Michele

Photo by Mquest Foto

Mr. Brownstoner's Reaction to NY Mag Article

Brownstoner would be nuts not to be happy about his New York Magazine cover story. Still, he wishes the writer had focused on some of the more positive aspects of the culture over there. Here's an excerpt from Mr. B's reaction:

Our only major gripe was that it played up the importance of one egomaniacal commenter over some of the more constructive aspects of the community. In the end, though, it did include one belief of ours that we've clung to from the beginning: That as messy as many of the threads get, the tough issues that underlie much of the change that Brooklyn has experienced in recent years—class, race, gentrification—are at least getting discussed, and often among people who wouldn't otherwise be mingling offline. The conversations could be a lot more polite, but at least they are happening.

New York Mag Cover Story About Brownstoner

Subtitled "A mischevous online bogey man is haunting the dreams of new Brooklyn," the article is mostly about the tone of the discussion over at  Brownstoner—what writer Adam Sternbergh calls "the unique undertow of anger in Brownstoner comments."

The NY Mag story also focuses on a commenter named "The What" and his obsession with the coming Brooklyn apocalypse.

I can't tell if this article will be of interest to anybody/everybody.

Snarky commenter, The What, is the real story here. But the article does talk about John Butler,  and his blog, the Brooklyn Flea and all the rest (Upper East Side childhood, Princeton education, MBA from NYU, Hedge funder, who blogged onthe side...) They sure do love Brownstoner over at New York Magazine.  Here's an excerpt:

"Butler’s adopted borough has proved to be especially fertile soil for blogs, as many of its recent transplants have, like Butler, been eager to chronicle their experience in dispatches sent out to the world, like homesteaders mailing letters back from a new frontier. Among these sites, though, Brownstoner holds a distinct and exalted position, thanks largely to Butler’s acumen in staking out the happy middle ground between citywide Websites like Curbed and Gothamist and the dozens of Brooklyn microblogs and message boards where people gather to rant and rail and cheer and commiserate about the foibles and frustrations of their neighborhoods. Brownstoner covers the whole borough (although the objections here of residents of Bay Ridge, Canarsie, and other outlying regions are duly noted), but it covers the whole borough as though it were one big block, where everyone has gathered to gossip on their stoops.

"As such, Butler’s become not only a fairly well-known blogger (the site draws 150,000 visitors a month, and he was introduced to the world in a 2007 Observer article headlined BROWNSTONER: IT’S ME!), but also a kind of virtual developer, someone who doesn’t literally rebuild neighborhoods but who has the power to shape the way those neighborhoods are perceived. By uncovering derelict architectural gems in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, or trumpeting the opening of an inviting new bar in Crown Heights, Butler has introduced Brooklyn’s far-flung neighborhoods to people who would otherwise never consider visiting them, let alone buying a house and settling there. On Brownstoner, the bridesmaid borough is now the bride. The site celebrates what’s sometimes called New Brooklyn: a vision of the borough as a diverse and lively enclave of flowering neighborhoods, all jammed with engaged homeowners, reborn blocks, and gorgeous and stately and (by Manhattan standards) bargain-priced real estate, waiting to be polished up under a tasteful eye. Brownstoner didn’t create the Brooklyn renaissance, of course, any more than a weatherman creates a storm. But, like a watchful forecaster, the site has tracked the course of the weather pattern—in this case, the vortex created by rising real-estate prices that sucked in a fresh batch of hopeful residents, drawn by the promise of more space and tree-lined blocks and safer streets and majestic brownstones and ample sunlight and the borough’s sudden, self-perpetuating cachet..."

Joshua Light Show At Issue Project Room

Some will remember the Joshua Light Show from the days of the Filmore East and West; they were the lighting effects designers for Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix and other great bands of the 1960's and '70s.

Well, Josh White is still at it. And he's part of an interesting—and avant garde line-up—at Park Slope's Issue Project Room this week. Wednesday through Saturday night at 8 p.m. $20 gets you in.

First up: Wednesday May 28th: Marina Rosenfeld, Ikue More, Lee Ranaldo and Zeena Parkins. Check the Issue Project Room site for the other nights.

What's A Tooth Going For in Park Slope?

Is it true that Park Slope kids get Webkinz or Shining Starts web stuffed animals for a tooth from the Tooth Fairy. Pricey, pricey. This morning on Park Slope Parents, one mom (aka tooth fairy) wonders what is the going rate for a tooth is these days?

What does the tooth fairy leave now a days? Quarters,silver dollars or a small gift? My
husband & I remember getting coins for each tooth left under the pillow, but my
daughter is under the impression that the fairy leaves webkinz or shining stars for
each tooth (which I'm afraid will get kind of expensive). So I'm wondering what is the
general consensus on tooth fairy gifts?

Photo and box by bewitched's magic photostream

WNYC Street Shots Challenge

Here's the deal from WNYC. They are sponsoring a street photography challenge:

We want your street photography. The challenge: get out there and get clicking.

In the coming weeks, we’ll post notable images on Street Shots, WNYC's online festival of contemporary street photography. After June 20th, we'll select one winner from this group's photo pool whose work and story will be featured on our website.

This week on Street Shots, head out on the streets with Bruce Gilden, an old school stalker of anonymous characters on the city sidewalks, and Sandra Roa, who focuses her lens on the lives of day laborers in Queens

Before joining our group, please read the rules for the contest.

In order to be selected for the online video feature, entries must be received by 11:59 p.m EST. on Friday, June. 20, 2008. Your street shots must be taken within the 5 boroughs of NYC, and we ask that you limit your entry to your 20 best street shots.

http://www.wnyc.org/streetshots

The Oh-So-Prolific-One: Leon Freilich/Verse Responder

A RAY IN THE RAIN

Sodden morning near Brooklyn's
Glistening Borough Hall,
People rush to subway
Through a grayish squall.

Dripping, smiling man
Hawks his suitable wares,
Passengers reach for
MTA-card fares.

At his stand the vendor
Sings to passing fellas
Sweetest baritone note,
Sunshine-splashing "Umbrellas!"

Photo by the Tamed Shrew

New Alternate Side of the Street Signs Appear with a Surprise

A note from our friend Eliot.

New alternate side parking signs have started to appear on Eighth Avenue.  But there's a surprise for anyone who thought that all that would happen was that the three hour street cleaning period would be shortened to 90 minutes.  Eighth Avenue between Third and Fourth Street was formerly in the Thursday- Friday zone.  The new sign shows that the alternate day on the east side of the street will now be Tuesday.

Only the Blog Links

I wish I could eat your cancer when (Blognigger)

Pot Mitzvah (Brooklyn Mabel)

Spinning Plates at the Russian Circus in Queens (Brooklynometry)

Siblings fall from Kensington window (NY1)

Babies switched at birth at LICH (NY1)

RIP: Film Director Sydney Pollack (Daily News)

Brooklyn Bridge on the big screen (Daily News)

Someone on Smith Street has been to Ikea (Pardon Me for Asking)

60th Annual Albany Tulip Festival (Deep in the Heart)

Turning schools from death traps to havens (NY Times)

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

Streetsfilms Presents: Sunday's Bike Tour of Brooklyn

Southern Girls Baking and Bitching in a Brooklyn Kitchen

Last night, Mrs. Kravitz and Mrs. Cleavage were baking and bitching in preparation for the building's first BBQ of the season. Mrs. Kravitz was rolling dough for her pies. A pecan blend and bright red and pink cherry halves in a sugary mix waited in white bowls.

The scene was was like something out of a quaint Southern kitchen. Two southern girls (one from North Carolina, the other from Texas) transplanted to a tiny Brooklyn kitchen channeling their southern childhoods spent in kitchens baking pies.

Or so I imagine.

Mrs. Cleavage's also prepared a delicious looking pasta salad with snap peas; she wasn't happy when people wanted previews.

"I'm going to have to make another one tomorrow if people don't stop taking bites," she threatened.

The conversation moved seamlessly from one juicy topic to another (husbands, ex-husbands, children, parents, neighbors, friends provided friendly fodder). But mostly it was food talk—a running commentary on what was being prepared.

In the dining room Mr. Kravitz and a friend were trying to figure out how to make a proper mojito. After much trial and error—and probably too much to drink—he settled on a recipe he deemed perfect. He plans to make a pitcher for Memorial Day.

Mrs. Kravitz sliced up one of the pecan pies. It didn't look like any pecan pie I've ever seen.

"it needs more sugar," Mrs. Cleavage said.

"Too many eggs. It's too eggy," Mrs. Kravitz said tasting the pie.

"It needs more sugar," Mrs. Cleavage said again.

"So eggy. It's like a pecan quiche," Mrs. Kravitz said chewing slowly.

"It needs more sugar," Mrs. Cleavage said one more time.

"I forgot the sugar. I forgot to put sugar in," Mrs. Kravitz gushed.

"What do you think I've been telling you," Mrs. Cleavage told her seriously.

Don't worry. Mrs. Kravitz's Memorial Day pecan pie will have plenty of sugar. Lesson learned. Bitching, baking and drinking Mojitos...

Summer and Smoke: Prospect Park on Memorial Day

Not surprisingly, Brenda of A Year in the Park, was in the park yesterday. Here's an excerpt.

The blessed sunshine of an early Memorial Day weekend was still in abundant supply at 7:30 p.m. While the evening was a little too cool to feel quite like summer, the air over the picnic grounds near Ninth Street was thick with the perfume of starter fluid and charred meat. And the ground was thick with people and their mobile campsites, many of which included balloons celebrating various events.

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

Sons of Slain Dry Cleaner: Determined To Keep The Store Open

On Saturday, members of the Windsor Terrace community planted a tree to memorialize Kyung-Sook (aka Lindo Woo) who was murdered last week; it was planted outside of her dry cleaning store where she lost her life.

The family is determined to continue operating the store, Eden Dry Cleaners in Windsor Terrace. This was on the Park Slope Parents list-serve on Sunday morning.

My family dropped by the dry cleaner to pay our respects.  To our 
astonishment, the dry cleaner is open and operating.  We spoke with 
Mr. Woo, one of Ms. Woo's two sons who were there.  He spoke of the 
family's determination to keep the store operating ("My mom would 
want this.").  I was inspired by the family's hard work and 
determination.

He went on to speak with gratitude about the support community has 
shown the family.  He proudly pointed to the tree which was planted 
just this morning ("They rushed it.")!

Here is information about the Linda Woo Memorial Fund

On the morning of May 16th, 2008, beloved Kyung-Sook "Linda" Woo, 63, 
who owned the Eden Dry Cleaners at 10th Avenue and Windsor Place in 
Windsor Terrace, was found dead in her store. Mrs. Woo had owned the 
shop for years after moving here from Korea and used to live across 
the street with her family before moving to Queens. Jamal Winter, 22, 
is being held without bail in connection with the death. He was 
arraigned on first and second degree murder charges and first degree 
robbery. At the time of this tragedy, Winter was out on bail on 
another robbery case and was scheduled to go on trial for that case 
in June.

Thanks to Robert Bello Landscaping for donating the tree, to The NYC 
Parks Department for arranging a speedy tree planting, and to Clieve 
Christian and the Prospect Park Commerce Bank for generously helping 
set up the Linda Woo Memorial Fund. The fund will pay for a plaque to 
be placed under the tree and for a fence to enclose the tree's base. 
After these items are paid for, any additional funds will be given to 
Mrs. Woo's family to use at their discretion.

There are several ways to contribute to the fund:

1) Checks can be made out to the Linda Woo Memorial Fund, placed in 
an envelope marked "Memorial Fund" and dropped in the mail slots of 
either 243 Windsor Place- beginning Tuesday May 27th, or 18 Reeve 
Place- beginning immediately.

2) Checks can be made out to the Linda Woo Memorial Fund and mailed to:

The Linda Woo Memorial Fund
c/o Brenna Beirne
711 Greenwood Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11218

3)You may go to www.paypal.com and donate to this account 
community11218@gmail.com which has been created specifically for this 
memorial fund -note that the purpose of your donation is for the 
Linda Woo memorial fund. Paypal accepts major credit cards.

Smartmom Knows An Edgy Mom

Here's this week'